Ransom. That is what we paid to Iran for the release of five U.S. prisoners. It was not bad enough that the exchange was so one sided. We had to throw in cash as well. So now it is open season on hostage taking. North Korea just caught on to the act. US Student Detained in North Korea Over “Anti-State” Acts ABC News
The Obama administration is facing criticism for paying Iran $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds as part of what critics described as a “ransom” bound up in a controversial hostage trade designed to secure the release of five Americans long held by Iran, according to conversations with administration officials and experts critical of the agreement.
The payment came just prior to the release by Iran of five U.S. prisoners, prompting claims from some that the $1.7 billion was a ransom payment. Senior officials in Iran have said the money was provided as part of the prisoner swap.
The administration denies the issues are tied and insists that the money was provided to settle a decades-old dispute with Iran over the United States’ refusal to make good on a deal to provide the country military equipment following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Under the terms of the settlement, Iran will be paid a $400 million balance, plus an additional $1.3 billion in interest from the taxpayer fund, according to a State Department official.
And as far as the the release of Billions to Iran recently?
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry said money from the Iran deal could end up in the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“I think that some of [the $55 billion] will end up in the hands of the IRGC or of other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists,” Kerry said.
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May 9, 2018 at 6:03 am
[…] U.S. paid Iran ransom for U.S hostages from tax payers funds […]
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January 22, 2016 at 7:23 pm
Now we negotiate with terrorists and pay ransom as well, this is a dangerous precedent and now we can expect more countries to start looking to get money from us by taking hostages. All part of the fundamental change I guess…
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January 22, 2016 at 11:16 am
Every single morning since 1 February 2013, I wake up hoping that the first news bulletin I hear is that the Iranians are holding John Kerry hostage. So far, its been one damn disappointment after another.
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January 22, 2016 at 1:04 pm
But was Iran holding one of Kerry’s in-laws? The one who decided to stay in Iran after he was released as part of our trade- was he related?
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January 22, 2016 at 3:46 pm
Who would know? I read over the years the Bushes, Clinton, and Obama all have ancestral relations in Ireland. And maybe some others.
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January 22, 2016 at 8:57 am
This is what p*sses me off about this weak-kneed Obama administration. Kerry couldn’t negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag. All of their “negotiations” and “successes” with our enemies such as Iran and Cuba was really just Obama giving away the store.
On a separate issue, former hostages had tried to get some of that Iranian money as recompense, but Obama’s government lawyers fought them all the way. Sickening.
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January 22, 2016 at 9:05 am
Your second point was worthy of a post by itself. Iran owes the hostages millions, and as you so rightly point out, Obama fought it. I still think that Kerry is protecting his in-law family. The one hostage decided to stay in Iran. My bet it was one of his in-law relatives that Iran agreed to not mess with anymore.
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January 22, 2016 at 8:34 am
Reblogged this on Rifleman III Journal.
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January 22, 2016 at 9:05 am
Thanks.
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January 22, 2016 at 10:10 am
You’re welcome.
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